


Stimpacks out of barrel cacti and other fantastic improbabilities

by ofwyrmsandguns



Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Big MT, Fluff, Gen, Independent New Vegas (Fallout), No whump I promise this is to make up for traumatising Arcade last month, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofwyrmsandguns/pseuds/ofwyrmsandguns
Summary: Vegas is Anarchy, exactly how they wanted it. Now Courier and Arcade have to focus on improving lives in Vegas however they can.
Relationships: Female Courier & Arcade Gannon
Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999534
Kudos: 10





	Stimpacks out of barrel cacti and other fantastic improbabilities

One minute, they were sat on the roof of the Lucky 38, staring into the starlit sky, pointing out constellations and sharing stories of adventures had beneath them. The next, Courier had pulled out a gun and everything went blue.

And now, Arcade was throwing his hands out in front of him to stop himself falling off the balcony he’d landed on. The floor to ceiling windows showed a foreign world to him, one that looked straight out of the sci-fi novels Courier had strewn across her bedroom floor. The unnatural blue glow surrounded the crater, and they seemed to be stood at the top of a tower just like the 38. Arcade was pulled out of his musings as Courier tapped his shoulder.

“Nice view, eh?”

“Where are we?” Arcade asked, taking in the stainless steel tower. Behind Courier was a closed door that she leaned against.

“Big Mountain. You kna, the oasis of technology and science in the middle of the desert?”

“That’s-“ Just a myth right? But then again, he was with the Courier, a walking legend herself. And wasn’t he from the team of boogeymen who killed little children for fun.

“Yeah, just you wait til I tell you about what I found at the Sierra Madre. Come on, in.” Courier flung the door open behind her, holding it up with a flourish, letting Arcade through. It looked like a conference room, with more of that glowing blue light to everything. As Courier followed behind, a chorus of voices greeted her, making Arcade jump.

“Arcade, this is the Sink. Sink, this is Arcade. He’s to be respected as if he was me, got it?” Courier demanded. The central console came to life.

“Of course sir. Will you be needing any maintenance today?” Arcade stared at the machine in surprise. It wasn’t like he’d never met a robot before, but something about it seemed so… off.

“Nah, I’m good, ta anyway.” Courier turned to Arcade. “What do you kna about the Big Mountain?”

Arcade cleared his throat, running through what his mother and his father’s squadron had told him over the years. There was a great weight lifted from anytime he discussed science with Courier now, now that his history had been laid bare in front of her and she’d not turned him in to the nearest NCR soldier. It made for easier conversations, now that he wasn’t double checking what he said, wasn’t back tracking every five minutes when he’d said too much.

“It’s a research facility, previously funded by the Enclave, although obviously not anymore. The idea was ‘science unrestrained by morals’, I believe. Nothing good could come of a place like this, and I would be willing to bet that, since it was funded by the Enclave, a lot of people were hurt in the process of all discoveries here.” Arcade explained, taking in the entire room. “I suppose these aren’t General Atomics creations, then?”

“Very good Doctor Gannon. No, these are created by Doctor Mobius. Possibly not his real name, he changed all the scientist names to suit a theme of never ending repitition. But that’s a story for another time. There’s something I want to show you here.”

“Is that an autodoc?” Arcade asked. Courier paused, leaning back.

“He’s not very good at it.” She whispered. Before going into a side room. Arcade made to follow her, only to be stopped by a tugging at his trouser leg. He looked down to see the tiniest securitron he could ever imagine.

“Hey! You got any mugs?” It asked.

“Uh, excuse me?” Arcade asked, looking for the Courier, but she’d already disappeared out of sight.

“Mugs! I need them, please you don’t understand. I have to have a mug!”

“I don’t-“

“Give him this.” Courier appeared out of nowhere, pushing a mug into Arcade’s hands. He looked it over quickly, still completely befuddled. But the robot pulling at his trouser leg was now screaming at him, so he handed the mug over quickly.

“Yes! Oh at last! A mug! I hate my life!” The robot rushed off carrying the mug, leaving Arcade more confused than ever.

“Wait til you see the bookchute that thinks all written words are communist propaganda. Or the toaster that wants to burn down the world.” Courier suggested. Arcade stood opening and closing his mouth like a fish for a little too long, before he finally got the words out.

“But why?”

Courier shrugged and led him into the side room. It was a botany lab, with a wealth of plants growing in planters all around the room. Barrel cacti, numerous flowers, foods he’d only ever seen in pre-war books blooming under the artificial light. And broc flower and xander root growing strong.

“Hey there baby. Are you going to pump me full of your seed again?” A machine by the far wall asked. Courier blushed quickly, turning an angry gaze to the machine.

“Shut up. Arcade, what are you researching again?” Courier asked. She already knew, and Arcade knew she wasn’t the type to forget that easily, but she also loved dramatic tension, and he might as well join her in it.

“Oh, nothing special. Just how to make stimpacks out of plants with no inherent medicinal properties. Trying to save the world with rocks, basically.” Arcade explained.

“And why don’t you try broc flower and xander root? The locals have been using it for at least 40 years to make healing powder.” Courier suggested.

“They’re difficult to grow in bulk, and that’s what we’d need to make enough stimpacks to really make a difference. Somewhere back in the Boneyard there’ll be researchers trying to figure out that part instead, but agriculture was never really my forte.”

“But if someone could find a way to make broc flower and xander root with little effort, you could make stimpacks out of them?” Courier asked.

“Where are you going with this?” Arcade cut her off. Courier smiled and slapped the top of the machine that had spoken earlier.

“This bad boy can fit so much life saving research into it.” Courier joked, plucking a tato from a nearby plant. “Watch this.”

She opened a drawer on the machine and deposited the tato into it, shutting it carefully afterwards. “Alright, work your magic.”

“Anything for you baby.” The machine said, followed by loud whirring. It finished quickly, and green goop flowed out of the machine into a nearby container. Courier grabbed it, and threw it at Arcade, who nearly dropped it.

“I call it salient green. So did the inventor, actually. I think he’s as much a nerd as us.” Courier shrugged.

“Plant matter? I imagine this isn’t what you kidnapped me for.” Arcade asked, handing the container back over.

“I didn’t kidnap you. I just took you without permission to a place you don’t know where is. You can leave whenever you want.”

“And how do I leave?” Arcade asked, raising an eyebrow at the Courier. She waved a gun at the ceiling.

“Gotta shoot this. But you don’t get it ‘til I’m finished.” She said, laughing a little at the end. She unscrewed the lid on the pot and poured it onto what appeared to be a hotplate next to the machine. “Watch this.” A grin split her face as she bounced on her heels, tapping in a command. “Broc flowers are always canny, right?”

She stepped back, giving Arcade full view of the hotplate as the plant matter on it vibrated and danced, slowly forming a poor excuse for a shape that sharpened and discoloured, forming the petals and stamen of an imitation broc flower. Once it was finished, Courier whisked it off and presented it to Arcade. “Well? What d’ya think?”

“It won’t have the medicinal qualities of a real broc flower though, right?” Arcade asked. That’s what this was about right? But it was just a tato, it couldn’t be made into healing powder, never mind a stimpack, surely…

“Isn’t that your job to figure out?” Courier asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a better start than a barrel cactus anyway. But if you really must, know, I’ve been making these into Stimpacks for a while now. You know when you asked me where I got such clean looking stimpacks?”

“You made them yourself? From these?” Arcade asked. He gently took the broc flower from Courier’s hands. A cloned broc flower, made from a tato plant. “Tato’s don’t grow well in the desert, though.”

“Aye, I kna that. You can use any plant material though, including barrel cacti. The point is, we can make the materials that make the stimpacks; or at least, this machine can. The Followers could do a hell of a lot of good with a machine like this.”

“That’s an understatement.” Arcade said breathlessly. “You could convert grasses to crops, weeds to fruits-“

“Cacti to medicines.” Courier butted in, making Arcade laugh in disbelief.

“This is- Do you have any idea how many lives could be saved with a machine like this?”

“More’an 3?”

“Give or take.” Arcade laughed again, running his hand through his hair. To think, technology like this was just laying around in here for centuries, when it could have helped so many people in the wastes…

“This place has done a lot of evil, Arcade. Countless crimes against humanity; it’s hurt so many people that even the Enclave would cringe. It needs to be acknowledged. But, with this, we can do so much more good for the people out there. And I have no idea how to do it. I need your help.” Courier admitted, handing over the transporter gun. Arcade stared at it for a second, before straightening up, ready to take control.

“Do you know if there’s any blueprints for this? This machine is a miracle worker, but if we could make more without having to reverse engineer it…”

“Give me a few days, I’ll go ask the inventor. But he might not know either, so I’ll need to explore. Will that be enough time for you to check over my findings?”

“Well, my study probably wouldn’t be good enough for the Lancet, but I reckon I’ll have something to show you by then. After that, we should make copies and take the blueprints to the Followers so they can get to work on making their own.”

“And I’ll get a copy to the Boneyard. Been a while since I visited California, anyway.”

“Do you really think the NCR will let you walk through as if nothing happened?” Arcade asked.

“D’ya think it’ll stop me?”

“Never.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for hurting you so much Arcade. Here's your fluff chapter to make up for it: finally, your research has a lead, and you can bring new stimpacks to the wastes.


End file.
